December 8 Hitler orders all forces in USSR to shift from offensive to defensive operations

July 27, 1942 German troops cross Don River

August 23 German troops reach Volga River; Luftwaffe bombs Stalingrad

November 19–20 USSR launches two offensives against Germans

December 12 Germany launches Operation Winter Storm

February 2, 1943 German Sixth Army surrenders

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005164 Fall of France Pearl Harbor Japan: Start: German Invasion of Poland D-Day Dropping of Atomic Bombs (V-J Day) World War II: An Adventure By: Lauryn, Devon, Jamiah German Invasion of Soviet Union Normandy Landing: Nagaski and Hiroshima: Little Boy and Fat Man http://www.wtj.com/articles/pearl_harbor/ Victory- Europe (V-E Day) Poland and Germany were bitter enemies. After announcing a Polish attack on a German radio station, by Germans dressed in Polish uniforms in the early hours of Sept. 1st. 1939 the Wehrmacht invaded Poland from the ground, air, and sea.It was over in just over 6 weeks. http://www.history.co.uk/explore-history/ww2/fall-of-france.html http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005070 <object id="flashObj" width="486" height="412" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=68855881001&playerID=22268539001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAABSuB6rk~,bvP8ORzdajrCWjuyBUuI22emC2M-_6k_&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=68855881001&playerID=22268539001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAABSuB6rk~,bvP8ORzdajrCWjuyBUuI22emC2M-_6k_&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="486" height="412" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" swLiveConnect="true" allowScriptAccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object> The French government moved to Tours on June 11 and later to Bordeaux. The Germans occupied Paris on June 14. The French cabinet, defeatist and deeply divided, asked for an armistice. Marshal Philippe Pétain, the 84-year-old hero of World War I, became premier. http://www.rivervet.com/images/PearlHarbor/pearl03.jpg Planes and small submarines attacked Pearl Harbor at 7:51 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941. They chose this time because most people were at church. At 08:30, a second wave of 170 Japanese aircraft, mostly torpedo bombers, attacked the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. The battleship Arizona was hit with an armor-piercing bomb which penetrated the forward ammunition compartment, blowing the ship apart and sinking it within seconds. June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy. The D-Day cost was high -more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded -- but more than 100,000 Soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler. http://www.army.mil/d-day/ http://bcove.me/msfc2e1d : D-Day Video. On Mar. 7, 1945, the Western Allies crossed the Rhine after having smashed through the strongly fortified Siegfried Line and overran West Germany. German collapse came after the meeting (Apr. 25) of the Western and Russian armies at Torgau in Saxony, and after Hitler's death amid the ruins of Berlin, which was falling to the Russians under marshals Zhukov and Konev. The unconditional surrender of Germany was signed at Rheims on May 7 and ratified at Berlin on May 8.

Read more: V-E Day: May 8, 1945 | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/veday1.html#ixzz2PcHKvQxh On August 6, 1945, the United States used a massive, atomic weapon against Hiroshima, Japan. This atomic bomb, the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT killing tens of thousands of civilians. While Japan was still trying to comprehend this devastation three days later, the United States struck again, this time, on Nagasaki. These bombs were named 'Little Boy' and 'Fat Man.' nuclearweaponarchive.org http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwarii/a/hiroshima.htm On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as "Victory over Japan Day," or simply "V-J Day." The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan's formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. Coming several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Japan's capitulation in the Pacific brought six years of hostilities to a final and highly anticipated close. http://www.history.com/topics/v-j-day www.likecool.com www.ushmm.org